Psychiatric Exam Ordered for L.I.R.R. Defendant

Published: September 21, 1994

MINEOLA, L.I., Sept. 20—
A Nassau County Court judge today gave Colin Ferguson until Oct. 20 to submit to psychiatric examinations intended to support his lawyers' assertion that Mr. Ferguson was insane when he killed six people and wounded 19 others on a Long Island Rail Road train last December.

Under state law, if Mr. Ferguson refuses to be examined, as he has for several months, the court could rule out the insanity defense.

On Monday, Mr. Ferguson's lawyers, William M. Kunstler and Ronald L. Kuby, notified the judge, Donald E. Belfi, that they would pursue a psychiatric defense, even though Mr. Ferguson has said he would oppose such a defense. He has insisted that he is sane and that he did not kill anyone.

Mr. Ferguson says that an injury to his left eye, which occurred during a beating by fellow inmates at the Nassau County jail in March, has caused him so much pain that he cannot assist in his defense or submit to a psychiatric examination.

The prosecutor, George Peck, insists that Mr. Ferguson has exaggerated his injuries to delay his trial. Mr. Peck said today after a hearing on the injury that Mr. Ferguson's "ability to communicate with his own eye doctor and recollect the present and past shows he can communicate with a psychiatrist."